ABLE's second BioSpark program conducted

'BioSpark' – ABLE's outreach program designed to create an interest in the marvels of life sciences among students was conducted at the Sri Vani Education Centre, Basaveshwarnagar, Bangalore on November 24, 2007. As many as 180 students of Class 10 participated.

The program, which was conducted in English, included two sessions. In the first session, Dr Jagadish Mittur, director, Monsanto Research Center and executive council member, ABLE, spoke to the students on "Jeans or Genes: Do we deal with them?" and in the second session, Dr KK Narayanan, managing director, Metahelix Life Sciences, and president ABLE, spoke on "From Gemmules to Genes – Genetics through the Ages'.

Dr. Mittur began his session with an introduction to genes and genetics. He then spoke about the applications of genetic engineering for the development of disease resistant and high yielding crops. His lecture was supported by a multimedia presentation which enabled the students to see the pictures of various diseased plants.

Dr Narayanan spoke about the history of genetics and particularly about "Mendelian Genetics" and on the theory of Evolution. He explained how Gregor Johann Mendel was able to formulate the Principles of Genetics. He then spoke about genetic engineering and the application of these techniques in agriculture.

Cognizant completes acquisition of marketRx

Chennai-based Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, a provider of global IT and business process outsourcing services, has completed the acquisition of New Jersey-based marketRx, a leading provider of analytics and related software services to global life sciences companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices segments.

With over 430 employees in the US, India and Europe, marketRx enables customers at global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to improve the effectiveness of their sales and marketing operations.

Stress on molecular approaches in animal healthcare

Dr KM Bujarbaruah, deputy director general (animal science), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, has emphasized that while introducing and developing newer technologies, economics should be given prime importance and in animal nutrition, work should be done on lignocellulose breakdown for better utilization of crude fibre. He was delivering his inaugural address at the national symposium on animal biotechnology organized jointly by the National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology (NIANP) and Association of Biotech Led Entrepreneurs (ABLE) on November 16, 2007 at the NIANP campus in Bangalore.

In his keynote address, Dr G Padmanabhan, former director of IISc, Bangalore, highlighted the need for molecular approaches for animal health and mentioned that many proteins have been produced through biotechnological approaches but not for commercialization. He also indicated that there is need to shift from animals to plants as bioreactors because of ethical issues. Dr Padmanabhan spoke at length about problems in containing foot and mouth disease (FMD) in animals and in this regard serotyping by molecular techniques and development of monoclonal antibodies are important.

Dr KK Narayanan, president of ABLE, spoke briefly about the objectives of the association and he called for more public-private partnership in biotechnological approaches to raise animal productivity. Prof. S Krishnaswamy, managing director, Animal Biotech, and organizing secretary of the symposium, elaborated on the theme of the symposium "Biotechnological interventions for the enhancement of livestock productivity". In order to achieve the targeted growth rate of 9 percent, it is now felt that biotechnological interventions need to be implemented to achieve the target, he said. Animal biotechnology includes improving the nutrients for the system to increase the disease resistance and technologies to process and preserve food of animals to produce human therapeutics at a low cost by gene manipulation and making the cow or chicken as a bioreactor producing hormones, enzymes and proteins, he added.

Earlier Dr KT Sampath, director, NIANP, as also the chairman of the organizing committee of the symposium, welcomed the chief guest and other dignitaries and gave a brief overview of the work and achievements of the institute. He said that the NIANP is involved in research, which included biotechnological approaches in enhancing animal production and reproduction in animals through physiological and nutritional approaches. Apart from various other research activities, the institute is working on genetic manipulation of rumen microbes to enhance crude fibre utilization, solid state fermentation, mitigation of methane emission from ruminant animals, early embryonic mortality and embryo resource generation.

The symposium was organized to highlight the achievements of veterinary scientists and to focus on the future need of technologies to improve the livestock production and health. The day's deliberations included four sessions – biotechnological interventions in animal nutrition, fisheries (aquaculture), health and reproduction and emerging technologies in livestock production followed by the plenary session. The lead speakers included scientists from leading academic institutions and industry.

On the occasion, Dr N Rajagopal, director, department of animal husbandry and veterinary services, government of Karnataka, released the symposium souvenir containing lead papers as well as articles related to animal biotechnology.

Sir David King visits India

Sir David King, UK's chief scientific advisor, was in India to deliver the 12th Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Medal lecture, 'The Challenge of Sustainability: the aim for the 21st Century' on November 20, 2007 at the Indian National Science Academy (INSA). This award is made annually for international co-operation in S&T and for contributions to public understanding of science by INSA.

Talking about the UKIERI program, the biggest collaborative program between the UK and India in education and research, he said, "We have funded 5 projects of half a million pounds each and 60 projects of 150,000 each. All projects involve a collaboration between Indian and UK scientists from all areas, be it physical sciences, biological sciences or others.

He lauded the efforts of science and technology minister Kapil Sibal saying that the minister has set up a whole range of good projects in place in India. "Life sciences hold a sheer magnetism, which is one reason why we are seeing more students making a move here," he said.

Novo Nordisk launches mobile clinic in India

Sanjeev Shishoo, vice-president (international operations), Novo Nordisk, Dr Mohan Badgandi, eminent diabetologist, Melvin D'Souza, managing director, Novo Nordisk India and Thomas Thestrup-Terp, international marketing manager, Novo Nordisk pose with the mobile clinic.

Novo Nordisk, a world leader in diabetes care, on the eve of World Diabetes Day, which falls on November 14 every year, announced the launch of a special Improve Control Mobile Clinic in India. The mobile clinic is a part of an initiative by Novo Nordisk to take diabetes care to the grassroot level in India.

Improve Control Mobile Clinic is a van designed to deliver high standards in diabetes detection and treatment facilitation. Equipped with blood glucose monitoring systems, weight check and body mass index platforms, the mobile clinic will encourage doctors along its route to leverage facilities.

Melvin D'Souza, MD, Novo Nordisk India, said, "Defeating diabetes is our passion and our business. In India we are challenged by the growing number of diabetics who are in constant need of proper care and timely treatment in addition to the growing need for sustained insulin supply".

The mobile clinic would initially cover a radius of 150 kilometers. The effort would be scaled up to extend its reach across Karnataka. Novo Nordisk will later extend it to regions in and around New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

Health conference stresses on developing integrated health models

The India Health 2007 conference, jointly sponsored by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), RTI International, and TCG Lifesciences, was held on November 1-2, 2007 in New Delhi. The conference addressed public health challenges faced by India and discussed the application of new research tools and innovative methods, to share techniques for managing improved health assessment systems, to develop integrated health models, and to identify mechanisms to promote public-private partnerships.

The conference was chaired by the Union minister for science and technology, Kapil Sibbal, who stressed on the need for public-private partnership and elucidated the steps the government is taking in the same direction. Dr Victoria F Haynes, president and CEO of RTI International, said, "Today, our research in India includes partnerships with both government and private sector. One of our major current projects is a population genetics study that seeks to discover and characterize important associations between human genetic variations and their immune response to typhoid and cholera vaccines."

The conference spread over two days also saw panelists discuss biomarkers as indicators of disease, control of infectious diseases such as malaria, and other important health problems as examples of research and applied health services that can benefit from an integrated health model.